This past week was a special week of teaching, because I got to tour my Dharma Flow Workshop/Class to Moksha Yoga Windsor. I dropped a Dharma Talk called Pain Wakes Us Up and then moved us into a fun flow class with some pretty sick tunes.

The 30 min talk was about the importance of pain in our life. At the core of the talk was the Buddhist teaching if Interdependence. The understanding that our pain is not separate from joy. They are one. To highlight this, I shared an old Zen Koan.

A monk asked Chih Men, “What is the essence of wisdom?”

Chih Men said, “An oyster swallowing the bright moon.”

As it is with many of these Koans, on its own it's hard to understand. You have to peel deeper, do some research and contemplate it.

In Chinese folklore there is a story about how Oysters get their pearls. In short, when it is dark & late, when no one is around, and the waters have calmed, the oysters at the bottom of the ocean floor begin to wiggle free from the sand and float to the top of the water & open to the bright moon & swallow it's brightness.

I find this so beautiful. "What is the body of wisdom?", the student asks. The teacher responds, "An oyster swallowing the bright moon.”

The pearl is the moon. The moon becomes the pearl, they are not separate. This is wisdom, to know that when you experience pain there is also joy there. I asked the students to close their eyes for a moment and try to imagine if their practice one day could take them to a place of "knowning" this.

"Imagine, at the very moment you experience pain you gently smile knowing joy is not far."

Bottom line, ALL of us experience pain, and here we are, still here & still going.

From here we got going into the physical part of practice. The movement, the flowing of energy, transforming pain into growth. Pain Wakes Us Up!!

The Music for the Class

The mix is pretty #filthy, it was inspired by the Soulection crew who bring that future soul vibe on a high level. These cats started doing a podcast out of one of the guys grandma's garage.

They felt the PAIN of rejection from the music industry over & over again. So they turned to each other and said, "we are gonna have to get better and learn to do this on our own." From a garage to a massive global audience in 5 yrs about. Major work ethic and grind and now they have a radio show on Beats1 the new Apple Music service. So check the mix and support these artists. And check the Soulection Radio show ever Saturday on Beats1 7-9pm Pacific time. So sick.